Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Okay, I'm trying several classes, and he's one of them, but right now he's the one with the heirloom weapon. Of course, since it's a 2H axe, he can't use it yet. Figures.

Maybe it's because I'm so used to the "us against the world" and "nobody loves us so we all have to band together" aspect of the Horde, but I'm having real problems relating to a Human Alliance character. I can't bring myself to appreciate the "oh, look at the poor humans, how they've lost so much" and "ooo, those MEANIE Horde people running around, they're all just vermin" that the Human NPCs radiate.

Excuse me?

And you don't think that the Forsaken had it bad, losing their lives to the Scourge? Or the Blood Elves, getting facerolled by Arthas and then accused of being traitors when they were left to their own devices? Or the Tauren, who were getting beat up on by the centaurs?

Sheesh.

Now, it's possible -likely, even- that the other Alliance races aren't that bad. Whenever I see a Draeneii around, Lorne Greene's voiceover from the 70's Battlestar Galactica pops into my head: "Fleeing from the Cylon tyranny, a rag tag fugitive fleet...." And don't get me started on the Gnomes. Way way WAY too much Polyanna in them.

What am I going to do? Oh, I'll keep putzing around with Alliance characters for the moment, as the lure of seeing the questing from an Alliance angle would be very interesting. Quint is less than 450 quests away from the Seeker, so the challenge of duplicating that feat from the Alliance side is tempting.

10 comments:

If you read the lore section at the website, you might get a better feeling for the alliance side of the story, for instance the Orcs are invaders from another planet after all that came and destroyed everything, a bit natural to dislike them.

And if I recall, the blood elves chose to be left to their own devices.

I've read the lore, and I understand the position the humans are in with the orcs; that's why I didn't throw them in with the others. The Darkspears are kind of borderline. Even though they were thrown out of Stranglethorn by their own kind, they still have that "voodoo, mon" thing that understandably creeps people out.

At the end of the Wrathgate line, the words of Wrynn really went over the top from dislike to genocidal hatred. As much as Jaina and Thrall try to smooth things over, relations between the Horde and Alliance will only continue to go south if Wrynn and Hellscream are left in charge.

As for the Blood Elves, yes, they did go isolationist in between the second and third war. However, I was thinking about the pivotal event that caused the break with the Alliance: the human general leading the armies essentially sticking Kael'Thas in an untenable position without support, and KT accepting an offer of support from the Naga. Maybe it was a mistake to accept support from a known enemy, but it was more along the lines of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend for a little while".

I think I'll have to try a Draenei, Vid. When Quint was getting his Explorer achievement on the old PvP server I was on, the starting lands for the Draenei looked much more interesting than what I've seen of Stormwind and Elwynn Forest so far.

And believe me, referencing the 70's BSG is actually a compliment coming from me. I've never seen the new version (yeah, I know, I should turn in my geek card) but I knew Lorne Greene from his pitchman days for Alpo and for old BSG, not Bonanza. I'm not that old. ;-)

I suggest you read the first in the World of Wacraft novels: Day of the Dragon (plus it ties nicely into the Cataclysm story I think).

I don't understand why you feel so dirty playing a Human Paladin. Dwarf and Human Paladins are where it all started. They are the original Alliance class, just as Shamans (usually Tauren) are the original Horde class. A Human Paladin should feel *right*, not wrong.

It has more to do with having done all of my leveling on a PvP server than anything else. If you've survived Hillsbrad -which a lot of Horde players actively avoid while leveling- you have a healthy dislike of the Alliance.

Each starting area has it's own point of emphasis, designed to get you to look at things from your race's viewpoint. After having seen all of the Horde starting areas and done all of the quests on my route to Loremaster, it's a shock to the system to see things from the other viewpoint. My Horde bias is easy to see.

Tamarind over in Righteous Orbs had a post about faction change when he moved to a Dwarf Priest, and his reaction was similar to mine.